[Mirrors: Infinite Macabre] Starships - Basic Mechanics

 Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage in Space!
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition & new World of Darkness - Mirrors: Infinite Macabre
Storytellers: Jerad Sayler, Korri Smith & Mathew Hagan

        Mage: Infinite Macabre - Starships
                     Basic Starcraft Mechanics

If you are going to have a Cabal traveling the stars you need to represent it somehow.  The following is an amalgam of rules from MtA 2e, nWoD: Mirrors - Infinite Macabre, and rules adapted from Star Wars: Age of Rebellion.

Applicable Merits

Merit: Starship (• to •••••+)

In the Infinite Macabre, there are two type of people – settlers and travelers. For the ones who find a stable home and defend it, the Safe Place merit works fine. But for travelers and adventures who feel the call of deep space and long for the freedom of the skies, there is another option.

Your character either owns or crews a Starship capable of traveling beyond a planet’s atmosphere. Dots in this merit reflect the quality of the Starship, and provide points for upgrades and modules such as weapons and armor. Each dot grants 5 points in upgrades that can be spent how the player wishes. See Starship Mechanics later in this chapter.

Unlike most Merits, multiple characters can contribute dots to a single Starship, combining their points into something greater. A Starship gives an Initiative bonus equal to the Merit dots to combat set inside the Starship. This only applies to a character with dots invested in the Starship.

The Starship merit can replace the Safe Place merit as a prerequisite for any other merits.

Merit: Manadrive (• to •••••)

Prerequisites: Starship

Hallows form naturally on planets where Supernal energies coalesce and bleed into the Tapestry.  Through advanced engineering and Awakened science, mages have been able to design engines that draw on the complex shapes and materials of the Starships they are installed in to generate a ready supply of Mana. By integrating into a Starship, it also provides Mana for any Enigma Devices the ship has installed.

A Manadrive produces one Mana per dot in the Merit per day. Any Mana that is not harvested is stored as “fuel” by the Starship. Left to its devices, the Manadrive can store three times its dot rating in “fuel” before it becomes “dormant” and stops producing Mana until all of the “fuel” is harvested. As with Sanctum and Starship, a Manadrive can be shared between a cabal, and counts as a prerequisite for any merit requiring Hallow.

Basic Starship Mechanics

Attributes

In most the Infinite Macabre setting, the protagonists’ starship is its own character. And like any character, starships have attributes that help abstract the ship’s capabilities and limits. Every starship has a set of base attributes, such as Chassis, Engine, Propulsion, Sensors and Systems. It also has a set of derived attributes, based on the primary attributes (and Modules), which include Hull Integrity, Power, Thrust, Maneuverability, Silhouette, and Defense.

Primary Attributes

Chassis

A ship’s Chassis is a starship-scaled abstraction of a ship’s size. Starships tend to be large by nature, and the Chronicles of Darkness Size chart would be impractical to use on starships in general. The Chassis attribute is rated on a scale of 1 through 5 for any ship small enough for a small crew to manage; there are larger Chassis rating ships out there, but they require full contingents of technicians, navigators and staff and are beyond the scale of this game.

Chassis Rating	Description
Chassis 1	Very tiny: either a one- or two-seat fighter or personal shuttle. Not comfortable or useful for carrying cargo. (Max Crew Positions: 2; Hard Points: 2)
Chassis 2	A small ship that can hold four people comfortably, or a couple more with less comfort. Crew hot-rack (squeeze in more than one member per bunk), as the ship has only enough sleeping space for half the crew. There might be a small room to eat meals, and cargo space for a couple of tons of cargo (about 10 feet by 10 feet). (Max Crew Positions: 4; Hard Points: 4)
Chassis 3	A small-to-mid-sized ship, with cabins for each crew member (up to eight or ten) and cargo space for up to fifty tons of cargo. (Max Crew Positions: 8; Hard Points: 6)
Chassis 4	A mid-size vessel, probably carrying a dozen crew members and the same again as paying passengers. The ship is capable of carrying a few hundred tons of cargo. (Max Crew Positions: 16; Hard Points: 8)
Chassis 5	A large vessel, a Capital Ship. It can carry a couple of thousand tons of cargo, dozens of passengers and might be quite luxurious. It can contain a hundred plus crew members. (Max Crew Positions: 32; Hard Points: 10)
Chassis 6-10	The largest capital ships and most lumbering cargo vessels, capable of carrying hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo, or thousands of crew and troops (and even smaller vehicles). These are the largest ships capable of traveling between stars. (Max Crew Positions follow power of 2, Chassis x2 = Hard Points.  Unplayable)

Engine

Whether the ship’s engine operates on cold fusion, matter-antimatter mix, or noetic condensation, a ship’s Engine rating determines how much power the ship’s capacitors can store, and how much power the ship may expend.

Engine Rating	Power / Capacitance
Engine 1	2
Engine 2	4
Engine 3	6
Engine 4	8
Engine 5	10

Propulsion

The Propulsion attribute is an abstract of the ship’s aerodynamic design, responsiveness and handling.  It also represents the amount and configuration of maneuvering thrusters, repulses and gyros that allow a pilot to steer the ship.

Sensors

All ships are loaded with basic short-range sensor arrays. Basic sensors can detect physical objects of Size 1 or larger, as well as extreme Environmental Conditions. Some Modules will allow the sensors to detect additional phenomenon, extend the range, or give more detailed information on what is detected.

Each dot of Sensors provides bonuses to crew member rolls to scan the area around the ship (typically perception checks with the Sensor Rating as a bonus).  Each dot also extends the Range Band (1 - Close, 2 - Short, 3 - Medium, 4 – Long, 5 - Extreme) that the ship can detect objects and signals without penalties.  Each Range Band beyond the dot rating of Sensors takes a cumulative -1 penalty.  So a ship with a sensor rating of 2 can detect Close and Short range targets without penalty, Medium range targets with a -1, Long range targets with a -2, and so forth.  See Range Band table.

Systems

The onboard computers that manage power transference, module activation and sensor output are covered under the Systems rating. Systems can also replace a character’s Attribute + Skill for any Maneuver rolls (roll Systems + Maneuverability for these), representing autopilot protocols, auto-targeting software, passive scanners, all usually enabled via Protocol Modules.  The ship’s Systems rating determines its Cyber-defense, and helps determine Protocols.

Secondary Attributes

Hull Integrity

A ship’s Hull Integrity sets the amount of damage a ship may take before becoming incapacitated or destroyed. It has a permanent and temporary rating, like Health, and is determined by doubling the ship’s Chassis rating and adding the rating of any Hull Reinforcement upgrades.

Damage taken to the last three Hull Integrity boxes also impose a penalty (-1, -2, -3) on any Maneuvers made while the ship is damaged, just like Health.

When the last box is filled with Superficial Damage (Represented by Bashing Damage [/]), the ship gains the condition:  Crippled and all maneuvers require an additional point of Power to perform. When the last box is filled with Structural Damage (Represented by Lethal Damage [X]), the ship gains the condition: Disabled, and incapable of taking Maneuvers.  Any additional Structural Damage taken begins filling the boxes with Critical Damage (Represented by Aggravated Damage [*]) ; when the last box is filled with Critical Damage, the ship gains the Breaking Up Condition and in one round the ship with be Vaporized, killing anyone onboard in a fireball.

Superficial Damage to the ship’s Hull Integrity can be repaired with a Damage Control Maneuver.  Structural damage can be downgraded to Superficial Damage with a Damage Control Maneuver and later further patched up with an extended repair action.  Critical Damage can only be repaired in dry-dock at a port of call.

Power

Power represents a pool of expendable energy stored in the Engine capacitors and used to fuel various Modules and maneuvers. It has a permanent and temporary rating, like Willpower, and is determined by doubling the ship’s Generator rating and adding the rating of any Backup Power upgrades such as batteries or auxiliary power supplies. The ship may only use a limited amount of power per turn, as determined by its Generator rating.

When a ship has used its last point of Power, all non-vital systems are shut off until its capacitors refill (Low Power Tilt). Power is restored at a rate of 1 point per scene.  Normally a point of Power can only be spent once per turn so the crew must decide how best to utilize the ship’s systems.  In the event an action requires more than one point of power to activate it can be done instantly, but only in those specified cases.

Thrust

Thrust represents how much the ship can accelerate its mass and how quickly and generally is considered the Speed equivalent. Thrust is calculated by taking 1 + Engine – Chassis (+ Boosters).

A craft with Thrust 0 cannot move at more than a limping crawl.  Most Capital ships cannot exceed Thrust 2 because of their immense size.  Fighters and small attack craft typically have a Thrust of 3 or more and a craft with Thrust 5 can quickly reach speeds approaching a higher percentage of the speed of light (but never reaching or exceeding it).

Thrust determines how many Range Bands can be traversed in a single turn but amount of Thrust it takes to close between Range Bands in a single round doubles at each Range Band.  It takes a Thrust of 1 to cross between Close and Short range in a single turn; Thrust of 2 to cross between Short and Medium in a single turn; Thrust of 4 to cross between Medium and Long, 8 to cross between Long and Extreme.  The best way to calculate how a ship closes on a target is to subtract the amount of Thrust to cross the distance each turn.  For example: a ship with a Thrust of 2 will take 8 turns to close from Extreme Range to Close range on a “stationary” target in space but a ship with Thrust 3 will take 6 turns to do the same.

Keep in mind that if the object is moving towards or away from the ship you have to compare their relative Thrusts and use the Chase Rules as necessary.

The ship expend a Power to increase its Thrust by 1 for a scene, Afterburner Hard Points can increase these speeds in short bursts.

There are two kinds of Range Bands, Planetary and Stellar.  If a ship is a Hybrid craft, capable of both atmospheric and interstellar travel it uses the bands applicable to its location.  Craft in atmosphere move much slower than in outer space.

RANGE BANDS:

Range Band              Planetary                                                                                 Stellar

Close: Engagement range w/ ground wpns (football field) | Knife fight/dog fight point blank (hundreds of meters)

Short: Just outside of LOS (couple KMs) | Cap ship close range, just outside of dogfight range, missile range (couple KMs)

Medium: Artillery Range (50+ KMs) | Cap ship barrage range, outside of smaller engagements range (100+ KMs)

Long: Edge of typical sensor ranges (100-200+ KMs) | Only largest Cap ship weapons can reach (1,000+ KMs)

Extreme:   Edge of best scanner/sensor range (1,000+ KMs) | Edge of typical sensor ranges (10,000+ KMs)

Note: Beyond Extreme Range – Space is really really fucking big.  Past these basic ranges for sensors and communications you can use intervals of distance such as Astronomical Unit (AU) (roughly distance between two planets), Intrasystem (see whole solar system), Parsec (roughly between 2 adjacent systems), Sector/Cluster, and Quadrant (quarter galaxy).

Maneuverability

Maneuverability is considered Handling for Piloting rolls and Maneuvers and drive the ship.  It is calculated by taking Propulsion – Chassis.

Silhouette

Silhouette is how well the ship can respond and avoid damage.  It is a combination of Engine and Propulsion impeded by the size of the ship (Chassis).  It’s calculated by adding the Thrust and Maneuverability together.  Piloting checks to avoid attacks and the ship’s Defense use Silhouette.

Defense

Defense is the passive ability of the pilot and the ship to avoid attacks.  It is calculated by taking the lowest of the Pilot’s Wits or Dexterity plus the Silhouette of the ship.

  

Modules

Most modules will use one or more slots of Capacitance, Protocols, and/or Hard Points. General guidelines are:

·         If the module can affect anything outside the ship, has large hardware components installed into the Ship’s Chassis, or modifies a ship attribute, it requires a Hard Point.

·         If the module can benefit from Power expenditure, or needs substantial amounts of energy to function, it requires Capacitance.

·         If the module requires conditional configuration, or is used by the Systems, it requires Protocols.

Hard Points

Hard Points represent areas on the ship where large pieces of equipment and systems can be installed and most affect the ship or outside space.  This includes everything from weapon turrets to sensor arrays. 

# of Hard Points = Chassis x 2

Capacitance

Capacitance represents the amount of energy the ship’s engines can generate and how many major modules the ship can power simultaneously. 

# of Capacitance = Generator x 2

Protocols

Complex Modules that would benefit from automation or require computer resources need to access Protocols.  Protocols represent portions of the System’s processing power which can be called upon.  Special complex programs can be installed that assume everything from hacking bots, navicomputers to automated fire turrets and defense weapons.

# of Protocols = System x 2